MK Hotovely: High Court 'Spit in the Face' of Compromise

Nationalist reactions to decision striking down Migron deal are coming in fast and exceedingly furious.

By Gil Ronen

First Publish: 3/25/2012, 6:05 PM

MK Tzipi Hotovely in Itamar

Israel News photo: Yoni Kempinski

Political reactions from the nationalist camp were quick to follow the High Court decision annulling the agreement between residents of Migron and the government -- and they were unusually hard hitting.

MK Uri Ariel (National Union) said: "Unfortunately, after the residents of Migron agreed to painful compromises, the High Court decided to strike down the agreement reached with the government of Israel and accept the position of the extreme left. There is no choice now but to advance the Migron Law that gives Migron legal status in its present location, without any relocation and eviction."

MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) called the decision "The surrender by the High Court to the dictates of Peace Now" and said that it is "likely to take a heavy toll from Israeli solidarity."

"This is a prize to extremists whose aim is to bring about a rupture within the nation, and a spit in the face of all those who labored to find a proper compromise that would prevent painful scenes of families being uprooted from their homes."

MK Aryeh Eldad (NU) said that the High Court "proved again today that it prefers the Arab interest over Jewish settlement, even at the price of shedding Jewish blood. Today, the final rupture between the High Court and the nation of Israel has been made. If blood is spilled at Migron, the judges of the High Court will be responsible for that blood."

Deputy Knesset Speaker, MK Danny Danon (Likud), asked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin to convene the Knesset for a special session during the spring recess in order to pass the Outposts Legalization Law. "The High Court is trying to keep the government from discharging its duty," he said. "We will pass the Migron compromise by means of legislation and make clear to the court that the government is sovereign in Israel."

"There is no reason for Jews to be evicted from their homes under a Likud government," he added. "We must implement the responsibility that the nation gave us, and lead the state as well as the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria in accordance with the values of Ze'ev Jabotinsky and Menachem Begin."

Jewish Home faction chairman MK Uri Orbach also sniped at the judges, saying "It seems we do not need to move up the date for elections, but rather to completely cancel them, because the High Court judges believe they were elected to run the country."

MK Yariv Levin (Likud) said: "The judges of the High Court once again proved that their entire purpose is to destroy the settlement enterprise and to step on the government's authority to set policy. I turn to Minister Begin, who until today blocked the legislation to change the face of the court system, and say to him – these are not the judges who are worthy of sitting in Jerusalem. Immediately after the recess I will renew the struggle to pass the laws that will put the High Court back on a Jewish and Zionist track."

MK Michael Ben Ari (NU) said that he is "shedding no tears" for the Migron compromise, which he thought was "a disaster for the settlement enterprise," but noted that "the ruling is evidence of the hypocrisy and racism of the High Court, which is dumbstruck in the face of the rampant illegal construction in the Arab sector."

MK Otniel Schneller (Kadima) said that while all citizens must obey the High Court, this obligation is not stronger than the urge to survive, which obliges all of us – including the High Court – to maintain national unity."